Voted Best Plastic Surgeon

About Dr. Leo Lapuerta

Dr. Lapuerta is a triple-board-certified plastic surgeon with more than 20 years of plastic surgery experience. He has performed over 20,000 plastic surgery procedures and thousands of non-invasive cosmetic treatments with an excellent safety record. His practice is based in Houston, Pearland and Katy and the majority of procedures are performed at the AAAASF certified outpatient surgical facility, The Plastic Surgery Institute of Southeast Texas. Dr. Lapuerta also has surgical privileges at the Women’s Hospital of Texas, St. Joseph Hospital, Southeast Memorial Hospital, St. Luke’s Hospital and Memorial Hermann-Katy Hopsital.

Each year Dr. Lapuerta is honored to be the plastic surgeon of choice for patients from all over the world. He is sought after for the beautiful, natural results his extensive experience assures his patients. His practice includes the full spectrum of aesthetic plastic surgery with expertise in procedures for the face and body as well as reconstructive surgery. He offers the skill only experience can bring and the most current knowledge and techniques available through his continuing commitment to plastic surgery education. He is the Chief of Plastic Surgery at St. Joseph Hospital and a member of the teaching faculty for the Methodist Hospital and UTMB Plastic Surgery Residency programs.

Personal Life

A bilingual Texan from San Antonio, Dr. Lapuerta’s family originated from Valencia, Spain. He received his undergraduate degree at Stanford University, and later attended the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. Dr. Lapuerta then completed a residency in general surgery at St. John Medical Center in Detroit, as well as a fellowship in plastic and reconstructive surgery at St. Joseph Hospital in Houston. After practicing in Atlantic City, he relocated to Houston where he has established his private plastic surgery practice.

Dr. Lapuerta shares a beautiful daughter, Caroline, with his wife of 16 years, who is also a physician. He enjoys free time spent with his family, staying fit by swimming and weight training and any good restaurant or sporting event Houston has to offer! His hobbies include golf, hunting, travel and learning about wine.

Practice Philosophy

Dr. Lapuerta truly loves the practice of plastic surgery. He enjoys the great diversity and challenge of mastering the extensive skills necessary to bring restoration to the body. He believes plastic surgery restores the body and renews the spirit of a person. This transformation is always evident in his post-surgical patients, whose positive attitudes and enthusiasm for life is the change, he finds so rewarding about his life's work.

Patients are immediately put at as ease by his kind, caring and approachable manner. Patients appreciate Dr. Lapuerta's positive, confident, reassuring direction as he uses his knowledge and skills to guide them through the process of developing a surgical or non-surgical plan to achieve their goals.

Dr. Lapuerta has cultivated a team of staff members which share his enthusiasm for plastic surgery and his values. Patients will find a team who values them as unique individuals, is sensitive to their unique needs, values their time, respects their needs, guards their privacy and treats them as they would want their own family cared for from the initial consultation all the way through recovery.

Academic & Charitable

As a highly sought-after lecturer and leader in the field of plastic surgery, Dr. Lapuerta serves in the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at St. Joseph Hospital as a member of the teaching faculty. He is also a regular guest lecturer to residents from the Methodist Plastic Surgery, UT-Houston Plastic Surgery and UTMB Plastic Surgery residency training programs. In addition, Dr. Lapuerta volunteers his services to economically challenged children born with functional and aesthetic malformations through his long-standing participation in Operation San Jose. He believes his academic involvement enhances his cosmetic practice by ensuring his knowledge and skills remain on the cutting edge.